


One more day

by JustLookFrightenedAndScuttle



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M, Season/Series 04, episode 04.24 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:48:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23584861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustLookFrightenedAndScuttle/pseuds/JustLookFrightenedAndScuttle
Summary: Based on Check Please! episodeepisode04.24
Relationships: Eric "Bitty" Bittle/Jack Zimmermann
Comments: 5
Kudos: 162





	One more day

**Author's Note:**

> Based on Check Please! episode [episode04.24](https://www.checkpleasecomic.com/comic/4-24-01)

Bitty pulled his helmet down over his hair and took one more look at himself.

“You guys ready?” 

Ollie and Wicks were already on the porch waiting for him. Of course they were.

“Sorry,” Bitty said. “It didn’t dawn on me how ridiculous it would look, the helmets with the gowns.”

“Why?” Ollie asked. “Every hockey player who has graduated since we’ve been here has worn their helmet for class day.”

“Yeah, they even gave one to Lardo last year,” Wicks said. “Now, to be fair, _she_ looked ridiculous.”

“Guys --”

“No disrespect,” Wicks said. “Just ‘cause like she’s so small. And everyone who knows her knows she could barely skate.”

“Didn’t matter,” Bitty said. “She still held the team together. I wish she was here.”

They set off down the walk, ready to line up for the entrance of the class of 2017 on the quad.

“I guess what I meant was _I_ feel ridiculous in this get-up,” Bitty said. “I mean, it’s weird enough wearing a graduation gown, when I was never sure I was even going to graduate. And a helmet with it?”

“Believe me, you weren’t the only one not sure you were going to graduate,” Wicks said.

“We all wondered,” Ollie chipped in.

“Hush, you,” Bitty said. “I don’t remember the two of you having a hard time finishing your thesis-es -- theses? -- whatever. Or was I just so wrapped up in getting mine done I didn’t notice? I swear, I don’t know why you boys voted me captain.”

“We weren’t talking about us,” Ollie said. “We were talking about you-you, not you-us.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, Dex and Nursey were talking about whether you’d get it done faster if you could form the letters out of pie crust,” Wicks said. “Nursey thought it was worth a try, but Dex convinced him it was impractical.”

“Those boys,” Bitty said. “But still, doesn’t it strike you as odd that they would choose me to be class speaker? I don’t just look ridiculous. I _am_ ridiculous. At least as a student.”

“No,” Ollie said, as if he was confused by the question. “You nearly got cut from the team -- as a sophomore even. And you came back to be captain. And you weren’t just out here. You were out everywhere. And dude, we won.”

“And you made _so many pies,”_ Wicks said. “Of course you deserve it. Get up there with the important people.”

Bitty walked onto the stage with the rest of the dignitaries and class leaders. He looked out at the see of black gowns with ridiculous headgear -- was that a toilet seat? What was that for? -- and his eyes caught Ollie and Wicks’ red hockey helmets. 

When it was time for him to speak, he found them again. Then he looked to the side, where family and friends were seated. Mama and Daddy, and of course Jack. But there was Ransom and Holster, and Shitty, and Lardo too. His family. The people who helped him become who he was.

“Thank you, President Newland, Provost Casteel,” he began. “My name is Eric Richard Bittle …”

As he spoke, his mind wandered back to his first pie, and the last, baked just that morning. To his first skate at Faber, and kissing the ice last night, crying even more than he had when Jack kissed the ice and he thought everything would change. 

“How can one place come to mean so much?” he said, realizing that he’d put more of himself in his speech than he realized. 

Time to go, finally. He finished his speech, waved, hugged his parents and his friends, stood for pictures.

One more day, and this part of his life would be over. One more day.


End file.
